New here and need a little help...

[smallchickens]

Hi guys!

I'd like to buy a good ebook reader, but I'm kinda stuck at which one should I choose. I already checked a few one (Nook Color, Kindle etc), but I can't decide.

My needs are the following in a priority list (the last one has the least):

- touchscreen
- good battery life
- color
- able to read any PDF
- quality design and strong hardware
- I want that shiney pageflipping effect whih the Galaxy Tab has.
- a nice case which is not just for show...
- "I want it shiney". Good menu effects without any hinderance to the speed of the OS. (I hate lags and slowdowns..)

I will use it mostly when I travel (plane, bus etc etc) or when I'm on site so basicly it's for outdoors. I currently live in Hungary, but I'll soon move to Nürnberg. (Are the stores region locked? )

I don't need:
- note capabilites
- WiFi/3G is good, since I plan on buying a few books, but it's not a must-have

The price is irrevelant. I want top quality which suits my needs.
Thank you very much in advance for the help.

[HarryT]

Your requirements clearly point towards a tablet, not an eInk reader. I'd suggest taking a look at the iPad 2, or the newer Android tablets.

[GeoffC]

Welcome to Mobileread ….


Have you seen ... >>> ereader-matrix ...

though I think, from your requirements, that HarryT's suggestions may be more appropriate for you ....

[smallchickens]

Hm. I don't understand why do you guys suggest a pad.

As I said it's quite low priority if it's shiney and has good effect. I just want a stable touchscreen reader for outdoors which can read my pdf files that I upload from my PC.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by smallchickens

Hm. I don't understand why do you guys suggest a pad.

Because you list colour as a requirement. There are no colour eInk screens. Also, most PDFs are formatted for an A4/Letter page, and cannot be sensibly displayed on a 6" screen. eInk has a very slow refresh rate; an LCD screen on which you can smoothly scroll around the PDF page is a much better solution.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by smallchickens

Hm. I don't understand why do you guys suggest a pad.

As I said it's quite low priority if it's shiney and has good effect. I just want a stable touchscreen reader for outdoors which can read my pdf files that I upload from my PC.

There is NO device currently available that fully meets ALL of your listed requirements.

You listed 'color' as number 3 on your list, and that's why the recommendations are leaning towards an iPad or Android tablet.

If you want color, then a tablet is currently your best bet, as eInk devices in color are not yet widely available, and will not meet several of your other requirements.

With a tablet the only compromises are that 'good battery life' is going to be limited to 5 to 8 hours, not days or weeks, and daylight viewing is going to require you to find a shaded spot.

The only other option is something like the Sony PRS-X50 readers, but they are black and white eInk devices, and so they fail to meet several of your other criteria.

Here's a checklist of how these two options would stack up to your requirements list -

iPad or Android Tablet -

- touchscreen - YES
- good battery life - 5 to 8 hours
- color - YES
- able to read any PDF - YES
- quality design and strong hardware - YES
- I want that shiney pageflipping effect whih the Galaxy Tab has. - YES
- a nice case which is not just for show... - YES
- "I want it shiney". Good menu effects without any hinderance to the speed of the OS. (Id hate lags and slowdowns..) - YES
- Daylight Readable - Marginal

Sony PRS-x50 -

- touchscreen - YES
- good battery life - 1 to 2 weeks
- color - NO
- able to read any PDF - YES (but screen is too small for comfortable full page view)
- quality design and strong hardware - YES
- I want that shiney pageflipping effect whih the Galaxy Tab has.- NO (eInk screen has SLOOOW refresh)
- a nice case which is not just for show... - YES
- "I want it shiney". Good menu effects without any hinderance to the speed of the OS. (I hate lags and slowdowns..) - NO
- Daylight Readable - Yes (very good)

[smallchickens]

Thank you very much for the help. I'll consider it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by delphin

With a tablet the only compromises are that 'good battery life' is going to be limited to 5 to 8 hours, not days or weeks, and daylight viewing is going to require you to find a shaded spot.

I get about 10-12 hours of use out of my iPad, so it's not quite as bad as you state, although it's nothing like that of an eInk device, of course.

[crich70]

For good battery life you need something like the Kindle, but it isn't color, has no touch screen and can't always read pdf's (at least some don't resize well IMO). The page changing rate is probably slower than a tablet but I don't think it's too bad really.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I get about 10-12 hours of use out of my iPad, so it's not quite as bad as you state, although it's nothing like that of an eInk device, of course.

Good point, with light CPU load applications like document viewing this is possible.

CPU intensive applications like multimedia playback gives numbers closer to those I mentioned, even with the power efficient iPad, but this forum is concerned with the use of these devices as document viewers, which is not a CPU intensive application, so your numbers are a much better estimate.